When the release of a new blockbuster title is imminent, most gamers will want to play the game as soon as possible—and now two men from Japan became criminals in the process. This is what happened when they couldn’t wait for the release date of The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom. The case became public through a report by the Japanese website Shūkan Bunshun.
The two men, aged 21 and 24, whose cases took place independently but at the same company, devised a plan to get their hands on the new video game before its official launch. They successfully applied as subcontractors at an Amazon subcontractor, and started work a few months before the release of the Zelda game. Then they suddenly stopped showing up for work as the deadline approached.
When a supervisor called one of the men at home, the man’s mother came forward and told him freely that her son was at home playing video games. Subsequently confronted, the man admitted outright that he had only applied for the job to get his hands on The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom ahead of time.
A conversation with the other man led to a similar conclusion. The only difference was that he also stole various merchandise items in order to sell them afterwards.
Both men were immediately released, but had to pay for and return the stolen goods. Apparently, cases like this are occurring more and more frequently, but companies like Amazon have an interest in keeping such incidents from going public. The supervisor of the two culprits, who works at the subcontractor, insists on more determined prosecution to prevent similar cases in the future.
This article was translated from German to English, and originally appeared on pcwelt.de.